Michael Jackson's sperm sample guarded

Michael Jackson's family is spending £900 to fly the singer's sperm to London, where it will be stored in a secure clinic to protect it from being used to create a new heir to his fortune

Michael Jackson's sperm is being flown to England.

The singer's family is planning to spend £900 moving the sample to a secure London clinic to protect it from "unscrupulous" people who might use it to create a new heir to his fortune.

Michael - who died in June - deposited the genetic material in a Los Angeles sperm bank last year.

He was hoping it could be used to conceive his fourth child, but his family now fears "rogue elements" could use it to get their hands on Michael's billion dollar estate.

A source told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "It might sound crazy but when it comes to Michael anything is possible. With everything that's at stake the last thing the Jackson family need is someone using his sperm to give birth to a child and produce another potential heir to Michael's estate.

"The family know Michael authorised a number of people to access this sperm sample. The problem is they don't know who has access and given that a number of doctors have been implicated in his death then something sinister could easily happen."

The Jackson family has reportedly chosen to store the sperm in the British clinic because it has "extremely strict" security.

A clinic source said: "The samples are kept behind unbreakable barriers and we have several layers of security operating around the sperm bank 24 hours a day."

Once there, the sample will be cryogenically frozen and stored under an anonymous identity number.

Michael had three children Prince Michael I, 12, Paris, 11 and seven-year-old Prince Michael II - also known as 'Blanket'.

His former wife Debbie Rowe is the mother of his eldest children, while Blanket's mother is unknown.

Michael insisted he was the biological father of his children, but his dermatologist Arnold Klein claims he fathered Prince Michael I and Paris.

Klein's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan said: "There was a possibility that the two older kids could be biologically linked to Dr. Klein. And Dr. Klein was well aware."

Klein has refused to take a DNA test to determine his biological relationship to the children.

Kaplan explained: "It would serve no helpful purpose for the children to be distracted from believing Michael Jackson is not the father in every possibility. It would be of interest to other people.

"It is not something Dr. Klein feels he is interested to establish. It would serve no purpose other than creating distraction or noise. It is not going to help the children, other than to solve the answered question, which is a selfish motive to see who the ultimate provider of the 13 chromosomes is."